Well, this morning I want to ask you to turn to Psalm 73 as we take our look once again in this chapter. I promise you we're not going to spend the rest of our life there, though we will spend the rest of our life there. Because there are so many lessons there, and as I was thinking about this yesterday, there are some things that I think we need to just stop for a moment. We'll read a few verses. We'll talk about it a little bit. But there are some things that we can pull back on and just say, what is it when it comes to this whole issue of suffering? What is it with persecution that God is doing in our life? Because in essence, we want to be happy, right? And I don't think that God is a cosmic killjoy. So I want us to focus in on that this morning. As we do, I want to read the passage, or at least the two verses that we've been looking at for the last two weeks. And it's found in verses 16 and 17. Psalm 73, verses 16 and 17. Now, if you remember Asap, his whole conclusion in verse 1 is God is good. And he didn't immediately get to that, and we'll talk about that again. But a little insight, I think we need to focus in on that. But in verses 2, he tells us about the stumbling, he tells us about envy in the wicked, and he tells us about the doubt and the struggle in his mind. He tells us about the fact that he did hold his tongue, he didn't let all of that out and cause an offense to God's people. He tells us about even how he was feeling in verse 13 and 14, feeling like that he had kept his heart pure and vain. I mean, this was a major trial going on in his life. But then he says in verse 16, when he pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end. Now, we talked about this part a few weeks back when I read the story my wife wrote, God's Masterpiece, or The Master and His Clay, talking about us being God's masterpiece. And I just want to emphasize this issue again because when we're going through trials, we don't always remember this. God is at work in each of us. I told you last time that we have kind of like an under construction sign hanging around our neck all the time. You know, sometimes we should hang another one there, pardon the mess. You know, when we mess everything up, maybe we should hang that one around our neck. But we need to realize this, God is at work in each one of us. And just to remind you of the passage, Philippians 1.6 says, being confident of this, he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. He's going to carry this out to completion. But until that time comes, we're a work in progress. Now, I believe this was true about ASAP. I believe this is true about us. Our suffering and our affliction has a far more eternal weight of glory. Remember that passage in Romans 8 verse 18 that says that? For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. I mean, do you believe that? Do you understand that? We go through suffering. Sometimes it feels like this every day. Sometimes it's weekly. Sometimes it's sporadic. We praise the Lord when it's sporadic, right? But we need to get to the point where we're praising God no matter when it comes. It's not like, oh no, here it comes again. Oh no. You know, we've got to have a different attitude toward this. And I know when we look at a verse like this, we don't always see it. I don't always see it. But we've got to come to the place to where we do. It's like verse 28 of Romans 8. We don't always remember that God causes all things to work for good. There is a good in mind here. Asap didn't realize that at first, did he? You see all this he's going through. He's telling us what was going on in his mind, what was going on in his heart. And he starts thinking about all this suffering that he's going through and he looks at his neighbor who is unbelieving, doesn't have anything to do with God, and he's over there prospering. He's got a nicer tent than Asap had. Maybe he's living in a structure and Asap's still in a tent. You know, he has six camels. Asap has a dog. That looks funny, doesn't it? Trying to ride a dog somewhere? Unless he had a great Dane and he was a short guy. It wouldn't matter then, would it? Or they have horses and he has mules. We can always look at somebody else and think, well, they have something better than we have. And totally miss out on the fact that God has blessed us and He's continuing to bless us. And maybe some of the reason why we don't have or experience some of the things that our neighbor experiences who is unbelieving is, number one, they have their reward now, and this is all they're going to enjoy in this life because what's yet for them in the future is not pretty, is it? And far as for us, maybe God is trying to keep us from sinking our feet into this earth. We're passing through. Our home is heaven. We're not citizens of heaven. I was listening to Alistair Begg this week, and I was surprised in the message. I'd never heard him say this, and I understood after he said it what he was meaning. But he says that whenever they have a flag, and they have a flag in their church, American flag, he said he won't pledge any allegiance to it. And he says, I get off in the shadows so that no one sees me. But he said, the whole issue is that my citizenship is in heaven. My citizenship is not here. And he says, I'm not talking about America being a bad place. It's the greatest country in the world. But I thought, well, that's an interesting thought. You know what I mean? But our whole issue is, and I would agree with him on that, is our allegiance is to God, isn't it? And we obey the government. We obey the rules of man because we're obeying God in doing that. God is at work in all of us. And if we could just see that in all things, this is eventually going to be the outcome. We might not be able to see it. We might experience the worst of worst things that could ever happen. I mean, I was thinking, my girls was out there for the first week at the Master's College. They went out to the beach with their group from the school. And a young man, he was from South Korea, he had dug a six-foot hole on the beach. And they don't know if he got down in it to take a picture or if he was still in it, but it caved in on him. He went to heaven on the way to the hospital. And you don't know when that stuff's going to happen. You don't know when God says, today is the day. It's time to come home. You know, and our prayers go out to everyone there. Our prayers go out to all that are grieving the loss. We don't know always or always see this part. Sometimes we have trouble remembering this. We may even quote it, but we go, I don't really know what that means and what I'm going through right now. I mean, think about Joseph. Think about all that he went through. And it was a long period of time, or even thinking about David, David running from Saul for 12 years. And how could he say that all things work for good? This doesn't seem like something good right now. How can ASAP say that? I feel like I'm in vain by keeping my heart pure because my neighbor doesn't keep his heart pure. And look at his life. It doesn't compare to mine. I have trouble every day. I have anxiety. I have stress every day. Blood pressure's up all the time. Well, God did work in Joseph, didn't He? We don't get to always hear Joseph's perspective, other than in that situation with Potiphar and his wife, and how God had withheld her from him, and he had a right perspective to that, and he got out of that situation. But you know, you wonder, did he ever carry a grudge against his brothers? And we find out in Genesis 50 and verse 20 that he didn't. He had a God perspective. He had a bigger picture perspective. Look at what he says. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. And maybe as all this was going on, he didn't understand until he started interpreting some of the dreams. He interprets Pharaoh's dream, and God tells him there's a famine coming. You're going to have seven years of plenty to get ready for that famine, then you're going to have seven years of famine. And it's going to be worldwide. And you've got to get ready for that. And God prepared him up to that point to get ready for that by all these things that he was going through. We don't always see what God is preparing us for. But he says, God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result. What was the present result? To preserve many people alive. Can we think like that, that maybe the affliction and the trial that I'm experiencing right now has a bigger picture attached to it? Maybe there's some people in our world and in our life that's affected by our lives and how we respond, and maybe God is preparing us. You know, God had to humble him to prepare him to be a leader. to bring him to that place to where he could lead, where he wasn't filled with pride and saying, OK, you know, you guy in jail who forgot about me for two years, it's payback time now. OK, brothers, you didn't want to believe my dreams about all the bowing down and stuff? I'm going to force you. I mean, he could have did anything. He had the power to do it. But that was delegated power from God Himself, right? And we know leaders today, as they had done then, abuse power. Joseph didn't. See, some think that God means it for evil and not for good. If we go through something, God's being mean to me. God's not good. He's not good as we've been told by our forefathers. This is really what Asap struggled with. You hear it right there in verses 13 and 14. Look at it again. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure. In vain have I washed my hands in innocence." Two times he mentions the vanity. All day long I have been plagued. I have been punished every morning. That's some strong statements. Now, we could say that it's probably exaggerated. Wouldn't you say? If you're so focused on your problem, to add this phrase in every day, I don't know, maybe it was. Look at the words. Plagued, punished, stricken, chastened. Now, punished and stricken, wouldn't you say? That he felt like every day he thought he was being punished by God? God's punishing me. He's not punishing them. They're prospering. All their needs are met. They have everything their heart desires. I don't. I'm struggling here. Therefore, God couldn't be good. You see why it's important to keep your mouth closed? You see why it's important that before you speak, you've got to get to this point of verse one? See, once he finally came through it, what was he able to proclaim? That God was good to Israel, to those who are of a pure heart. See, He finally came to that point, but leading up to that, He wasn't there, was He? It leads me to ask you this question right here. Do you struggle with a loss of joy in your life? You just don't have any joy? You feel like you don't have any purpose? Do you think God is punishing you? Do you even ask yourself, is this what it means to be holy? To use ASAP's words, is this what it means to be pure? Think about that. Is this what it means to be pure? I want you to listen to what Paul Washer has to say on this topic. Now I want to tell you that he's speaking, I don't know where he's speaking at, but he's having to be translated. So just bear with that, but listen to what he says here. Take this into consideration. I know that there are some people who think that holiness means that you walk around with your head down and you're weeping and sad all the time. When they say that, I have great questions about their piety. Why is it so sad for you to do the will of God? Why is your life such a burden? Does not God have all wisdom? And does not God love His people more than it could ever be described? Then should His will be a burden to His people? No! I know a lot of you have seen my sermons. And sometimes on YouTube I look like the meanest man who ever walked the planet. I don't know why my sermons about love never make it to the YouTube. But I want you to know this. If you're walking around sad and morbid and weeping, and you do it only for a short season because God is doing something in your life, that can be biblical. But if your life as a style of life is not marked by joy, you've got problems. Let me ask you this question. Do you think that we're going overboard with our reaction to our trials? I think we could probably scream no when we're going through it. But when we're through it and we come back to it, Are we going overboard with our reaction? You know, we're commanded in Scripture to have joy. And you know, I'm just like the next guy, when I'm going through something bad, it's hard to find it. And so, just like in this story here in Psalm 73, you've got to find something to get your foothold on. You've got to find something to give you that firm standing again. You know, we hear this verse right here in James 1-2, to count it all joy, when you fall into various trials. Paul told the Philippians to rejoice. And you know he could ask them to do this because this is what he was doing. He wasn't hypocritical when it came to this. After he had been beaten and falsely accused, Acts 16.25 says that him and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. So he certainly wasn't a hypocrite when he told them to rejoice in the Lord. You know, He also told them about being content. He had learned how to be content. He had learned how to have plenty. He had learned how to have nothing. So was He a hypocrite to tell them to learn to be content? I don't think so. See, this is the same attitude the apostles had after they were beaten for preaching the name of Jesus. Over in Acts 5 and verse 41, the apostles had left the Sanhedrin, it says, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. They were counted worthy to do this. So let me ask you this, are you having trouble understanding the chiseling that's going on in your life? God has a chisel out. He's taking away certain things from us. He's purging us. Again, He is at work. He's at work in you and He is at work in me. And part of that work is the purging. Is this painful? Yeah? Is it necessary? Yes. It's very necessary. Peter even learned this the hard way, just like most of us. And we read this, or no, we didn't read this verse, but this is in the next chapter, 1 Peter 5.10. It says, And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you, or the NAS has, perfect you, and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. God is in the business of making us like Himself, making us like Jesus Christ. And since we're not like Him, it's going to hurt to become like Him. Just as it hurts to come to Him for salvation. Is it easy to come to Christ to be saved? No, because there is a dying of self. You have to die to come to Him. You have to repent. Is it easy to repent? No. Is it easy to put things off in your life? Is it easy to end your life, if you will, end your dreams, end your pursuits? No, it's not easy. And yes, it's somewhat painful. You say, but doesn't God want me to be happy? What do you think is the answer to that question? I want you to listen to how John Piper answers this question. This question reads, chronic illness, difficult marriages, losing a child, doesn't God want me to be happy? God definitely wants you to be happy, long term, infinitely. and deeply now in and through those circumstances. Romans 8. What should we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, will he not with him freely give us all things? That's saying that since God paid the infinite price of his son for you, will he not then surely carry through in providing everything you need? And then it goes on to say, what shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness? I mean, these are hard things. Nakedness, peril, sword, As it is written, we are being killed all day long. So you get persecution and murder of Christians. And then he says, no. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Now, what I think more than conquerors means, for your happiness, is that a conqueror has his enemies lying subdued at his feet. So you've got distress, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, persecution. There they are, conquered at my feet. More than conquerors means they're not just at my feet. They are serving me. They're not just in chains, in prison. They are serving me. My persecution, my famine, my nakedness, my loss. as painful, as tearful as they are, are my servants. God works them all together for my good. Now that good that he works in and through them is the foundation of my happiness. It isn't a circumstance. There's plenty of tears. I mean, Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Paul says sorrowful yet always rejoicing. I think Paul was always crying and always happy. I mean, how could he not be crying? He was so beat up. His back must have looked like a hunk of jelly most of the time because he had these five times 39 lashes beat over his back and then healed in all kinds of gnarly ways. So this man lived with a thorn in his flesh, probably in his back, in his eyes, in his mind. And he had enemies all around him. And he said, Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. So yes, God wants you happy, but he doesn't do it with circumstance. He does it with himself. He does it with the gospel. He does it in and through circumstances. This is a call for faith. Huge faith that God is good. God is for us. God is using all these things for our deep happiness now and our perfect, unsullied happiness forever in the age to come. Our happiness is not in our circumstances. I like how he says that. Our happiness is in Him. We find all of our contentment in Christ, in Him. Let's look at these verses that he quoted up there. Romans 8, 36 and following. As it is written, for your sake we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. We face death all day long. like sheep to the slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." And Paul ends that by saying, "'For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.'" Nothing can separate us from God's love. Nothing. Now, Asaph, when he pondered all that he was going through, do you think that there were times when he said, not only is God punishing me, but has He forgotten about me? Does God love me? Because God certainly is not being good to me right now. You think he thought about all that? Well, it's easy to say yes, because again, we have here what he was pondering. We have here what was perplexing to him. We have it right here. We can see it. And what we have also here is how he responded to it. How he responded to the doubts in his mind. Do you always air those doubts? No. Are you never going to have doubts in your mind? No. There'll be times when you'll be overwhelmed. You'll have the same perplexity that he had. And then you're asking the question, you know, I'm miserable all the time. I'm suffering every day. I'm chastened every morning. I'm plagued with this. My neighbor's not, but I am. And listen, if that's the rationale, then verse 3 is a possibility. Envious of the arrogant. Very envious of those who don't know and love God. It's very easy for that to happen, wouldn't you say? Very easy for that to happen. Now, to further help you to remember this, I want to show something else for you. And this is actually a short skit. by two guys, and it's called God's Chisel. So listen to this. Ephesians 2.10 says that we are God's workmanship, that we're in essence His masterpiece. I don't know about you, but when I get up in the morning and look in the mirror, I don't see a masterpiece, you know. I mean, maybe a Picasso, you know. But I want to be a masterpiece. I want to be everything that God has created me to be. And so I go to Him in prayer and I say, God, do whatever it takes to get things out of my life that don't need to be there. Mold me into the image of your son so that I can be your masterpiece. Hi. Whoa. Who are you? I'm God. No, you're not. Yeah, you said the person here I am. That's how it works. Oh, okay, okay. If you're God, then make it snow in here. No, if I made it snow in here, it'd get kind of yucky and I really don't want to do that. See, you're not God. Why do you say that? God wouldn't say yucky. Yes, I do. It's a Greek word. Oh. Yeah. Oh, okay. If you're God, what does Lamentations 15.9 say? Lamentations is a very short book. It only has five chapters. Why is it so short? I was tired of lamenting. Oh, yeah. Now, if you're God, who's going to win the World Series this year? You know what? I'm not so much into playing games. Why are you so much into playing games? You are God. Well, give it away. You answered my question with a question. I did? Yep, I do that. Don't I? Let's get it again. Step right up. Here we go. OK? All right. Hey, what's this about? These are the tools I'm going to use to make you into my original masterpiece. Oh, OK. All right? Hang on. I thought you were a carpenter. That's my son. Here we go. Step right up. Here we go. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How do you know what to chisel and what to leave? I take out all the things in your life that aren't of me, kind of like dead weight. Ooh, speaking of that, could you chisel right in here? I just can't get rid of it. I mean, the other went away, but this, I mean, I've tried exercising, I've watched what I ate, I even did Pilates for a while. That was awkward. But if you could chisel, I mean, right... All right, you gonna talk or can I chisel? Talk, chisel, talk, chisel... No, no, no, chisel! All right, most of my children just like to talk. Not me. Bring on the chisel. Here we go. All right. You have a lot of anger. Ow! Some pride. Ow! You compare yourself to others instead of me. Ow! You're lazy. But you pretend like you're really, really busy. Ow! You have a problem with lust. Okay, time out. I do not have a problem with lust. You don't have a problem with lust? No, I can do it anytime I want. Okay. Wait, wait, wait. Maybe we can take a little time out. I mean, I think I'm doing pretty good. You are doing good, but when you look in the mirror, who do you see? I see me! Okay, then I need to keep chiseling away because ultimately you and others need to see my son. Here we go. Okay, hold on, hold on. Don't take this the wrong way. It's just that when I start looking more like your son, people get uncomfortable around me. Even my friends at church, they're all like, oh, you're holier than thou. Why would you do that? So what you're doing right now is you rather play God in certain areas of your life than for me to be God over your whole life. I did not say that. That's what you meant. Yes, it is. It's hard to talk to you. I mean, you know everything I'm thinking. I'm just saying, you've done good work. Maybe we take a little break, a little time out, and we'll come back to it. Right. What you're doing right now is so common. What you're doing right now is called control. Do you want to control things in your life, or can I chisel? Control? Chisel? Control? No, no, chisel! Here we go. No, can we chisel where I want them? That's called control. OK. You've been holding onto this for a long time. You ready for this? Yeah. It hurts. It hurts me more than it hurts you. Ow! I don't think you understand this pain. Don't talk to me about pain. I know all about pain. I sent my son to die on the cross for pain, for sin, but I also did it for another reason, to give you freedom. Do you know what insanity is? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again. Expecting different results and there are the things in your life You even think back to high school that you've been doing that do not work in your life But you go to these empty wells whenever you're hurting whenever you're angry whenever you're lonely and tired, but they do not work No, okay. Okay. I'm thinking maybe well turn on my phone. Okay, but if we went another way Okay, well look I can't be good I've made you good be good What? Nothing. What is it? You wouldn't understand! I, God of all the universe, wouldn't understand something one of my children has to say. Try me. It's just... God, I've let you down so many times. No. You were never holding me up. I hold you up with my victorious, righteous right hand, and don't you forget that. In this relationship, I hold you up. chisel away. Just be prepared for what you're going to find in there, because I know who's inside there. Because God, I get up every morning and I look at Him in the mirror, and it is this scared little kid. gets up every day and tries to dress like an adult and act like an adult, but I can't. So just be prepared for what you're going to find. You have listened to so many voices for far too long that are not of me. You think you're junk, don't you? You really, really, really think you're junk. Listen to me. I don't make junk. What does that say about me? How can I show you that my love for you has no boundaries? I know. Reach in your back pocket. What? Reach in your back pocket. Why? Are you arguing with me? Reach in your back pocket. God. Yes? I was just saying, God, I'll do that right now. You were just saying my name in vain. You know what? It's a name. It's a saying. It's more than a name. It's more than a saying. It's more than a bad habit. It's a name above all names. I want to teach you something about my name. Reach in your back pocket. You know what that is? This is a page from a journal I had when I was younger. How'd you get this? Hello? Oh, yeah. Go ahead, read it. I love Angie Holland. Other side. Sorry. I married her. I was there. Oh, yeah. Dear God, today I am turning everything over to you. I'm not going to hold on to anything anymore. Your word says that you will make me your masterpiece and use me to do great things. I don't see how that's possible, but I want that with all that I am. So please do whatever it takes to make me what you want. I love you, God. I love you too, Tommy. And I love you too much just to leave you where you're at. So this salvation that you hold, don't let it be some sentimental gush or some head knowledge. I want you to work it out in every detail of your life. And don't compare yourself to someone else, because that is just trivial nonsense. You are my original masterpiece. You are one of my workmanship, and you I find favor. Don't look at this as a prison, but look at this as a father disciplining his child. A father disciplines the ones he loves. I know, but it's gonna be tough. Yes, it'll be tough. But you bought into the lie thinking everything was gonna be easy when you said yes to me. It's not how it works. I want you to do something. I want you to look up there and I want you to say, Tommy is God's original masterpiece. Tommy, he... No, no, no, no. Not the way you see yourself or you yearn so much for others to see you, but the way I see you. Tommy is God's original masterpiece. Yes, you are. So are you. God doesn't make junk. You are an original masterpiece. When you're going through a struggle, a trial, a temptation, we don't see that we're God's masterpieces. We don't see that at all. We just think that we're junk. God's treating us like junk. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. Can we really say that? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning and we pray that we'd understand that you are working all things out for our good, that you're making us like yourself. You're taking things off of our life that are painful. You're purging us. You're pruning us. You're making it where we can bear more fruit. And Lord, there's a lot of things in our life that have to be taken off. and it's painful and it hurts and you allow things to happen in our lives to test us, to grow us, to mature us. Lord, to show us what we're focused on, what we're trusting, what we're depending on. I pray, Lord God, that today you would just help us to see that you do have a perfect plan, a perfect outworking of the will that you have for us, Lord. that You're making us like Your Son. You're conforming us to the image of Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Lord, thank You for this time we've had together this morning. We pray now that You prepare us as we have this time in the Lord's table. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.